Ribbon reinking device



March 30, 1965 w. E. NETTLES RIBBON REINKING DEVICE Filed Feb. 5, 1964INVENTOR. WALTER E. NETTLES ATTORNEY 3,175,780 RTBBON REINKING DEVICEWalter E. Nettles, Denver, (Zola. (8355 Tantgue Verde Road, Rte. 2, Box694R, Tucson, Ariz.) Filed Feb. 5, 1964, Ser. No. 342,722 3 Claims. (Cl.242-673) This invention relates to a hand-operated device for reinkingtypewriter ribbons or ink ribbons of other oilice equipment.

It is common practice to reink stamp pads and other ink carryingmediums. This procedure, however, has apparently never been applied toribbons such as typewriter ribbons. The latter are completely discardedand replaced whenever the residual ink supply is not sufiicient toproduce a satisfactory impression. In most cases, the ribbons except forloss of ink are otherwise perfect and satisfactory. This constantdiscard and replacement of ribbons creates an economic loss of bothmoney and time which could be substantially eliminated if practicalmeans were provided for simply reinking the depleted ribbons.

The principal object of this invention is to provide an economical,easily used, hand-operated desk device by means of which the ink supplyon used typewriter ribbons can be quickly, easily and repeatedly renewedso as to give clear typing impressions until the ribbons are completelyworn through thus removing the necessity for constant replacement ofribbons whose only fault is a depleted ink supply.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of theinvention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efficiency.These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference ismade to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Likenumerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughoutthe description.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the ribbon reinking device illustratingit ready for use;

FIG. 2 is a similar perspective view illustrating a top spool element asused with the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a similar perspective view of a spool winding key employedwith the device;

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are top plan views of the device illustratingsuccessive steps in the process of reinking a ribbon, to be laterdescribed; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged, longitudinal section therethrougll taken on theline 7-7, FIG. 5.

The improved reinking device is mounted upon a relatively small, flatbase plate 12 provided with suitable, resilient, supporting pads 13 tomaintain it securely in place upon a desk or other supporting surfacewithout damage to the latter.

A vertical carrying post 14 is fixedly mounted, and arises from themidpoint of the base plate 12. A ribbon spool post 15 is similarlyfixedly mounted on the center line of the base plate at one side and inspaced relation to the carrying post. The posts may be mounted in anydesired manner such as through the medium of clamp nuts 16 on the bottomof the base plate. It is preferred to mount a suitable finger knob 17upon the carrying post 14 to be gripped in the fingers for lifting andcarrying the base plate 12.

A vertical, cylindrical, ribbon winding hub 18, having a height slightlyin excess of the width of the ribbon to be reinked, is rotatably mountedon the center line of the base plate at the opposite side of and inspaced relation to the carrying post 14. The winding hub 18 is providedwith a concentric bottom disc 19 aifixed thereto in any suitable mannerso as to rotate therewith. As illustrated,

3,175,78b Patented Mar. 30, 1965 the bottom disc 19 is clamped to andagainst the winding hub by means of a shouldered pivot screw 20 threadedinto the lower extremity of an axially positioned threaded passage 21 inthe hub. The pivot screw 20 extends rotatably through the base plate toprovide a freely rotatable mounting for the hub 18. The winding hub isprovided with a ribbon pin extending therethrough, midway of its length,the extremities of which are turned and pointed to provide two ribbonattachment points 22 thereon.

The top of the hub is designed to removably receive the top spoolelement illustrated in FIG. 2. The latter element comprises a verticalspindle 23, the upper extremity of which is preferably knurled as shownat 24 to provide a firm finger grip. The lower extremity of the spindleis reduced in diameter and threaded to form a threaded stud 25 whichextends through a clamping washer 26, a top spool disc 27 and a threadedclamp nut 28. The latter nut fixedly clamps the spool disc 27 to theshoulder on the spindle 23. The spool element is applied to the hub 18by simply threading the threaded stud 25 of the spindle 23 into theupper extremity of the axial threaded passage 21 in the hub. The top ofthe latter is suitably countersunk to receive the clamp nut 28.

The device is used by simply dropping a conventional ribbon spool 29,containing a used ribbon 30, over the spool post 15 and passing theribbon forwardly past the carrying post 14 thence rearwardly against thehub 18 where it is secured over one of the attachment points 22, asshown in FIG. 4.

The stud 25 of the top spool element of FIG. 2 is now threaded into thethreaded passage 21 of the hub and rotated to tightly clamp the topspool disc 27 to the hub, as shown in FIG. 5, so as to form a completewinding spool. The entire ribbon is now wound upon the hub 18 by fingerrotation of the vertical spindle 23 in a clockwise direction.

When the entire ribbon has been wound upon the hub the bottom disc 19 isheld and the spindle 23 is rotated counter-clockwise to unscrew the stud25 and remove the top spool disc 27 to expose the completely woundribbon as shown in FIG. 6.

Ink is now applied to the wound ribbon in any suitable manner such as bymeans of a bottle brush as conventionally supplied with bottles of stamppad ink. The ink is gradually absorbed by the ribbon fabric and, ifallowed to set for a time interval, will become uniformly distributedthroughout the ribbon.

After the ink application is completed, the ribbon is rewound upon itsoriginal spool 29. The rewinding is accomplished through the medium ofthe spool rewinding key shown in FIG. 3. The rewinding key comprises atubular stem 31 upon the bottom extremity of which an annular cuppedflange 32 is formed or attached. At one point the flange 32 is cut andturned downwardly to form a downwardly projecting tenon 33.

The winding key is applied by dropping it downwardly over the ribbonspool post 15 until the flange 32 rests upon the ribbon spool 29 withthe tenon 33 engaging a hub hole 34-, with which conventional ribbonspools are provided. Rotation of the winding key stem in a clockwisedirection in the fingers will now rotate the spool 29 to rewind theribbon thereon for reuse in the typewriter or other equipment. The stem31 is preferably closed at the top and is provided with knurling 35 tofacilitate gripping in the fingers.

If desired, the ribbon spool can now be removed, inverted and thenrewound on the hub 18 so that ink can be applied to the opposite side ofthe rolled ribbon to obtain a relatively heavy uniform application ofink if found necessary.

The knurled spindle 23 and the tubular stem 31 not only serve forwinding purposes but also serve as braking elements. Thus, the stem 31or the spindle 23 may be rotated with the fingers of one hand while thespindle 23 or the stem 31 is frictionally gripped by the fingers of theother hand to apply tension to the ribbon in either desired direction.

While a specific form of the invention has been described andillustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be variedwithin the scope of the appended claims, Without departing from thespirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed and desired to besecured by Letters Patent is:

1. A device for reinking typewriter ribbons comprising: a base plate; avertical ribbon spool post fixedly mounted in and arising from said baseplate and adapted to rotatably receive a conventional ribbon spool; avertical hub member rotatably mounted on said base plate in spacedrelation to said spool post; a bottom disc concentrically afiixed to thelower extremity of said hub member so as to rotate therewith; means forattaching the ex-' tremity of a ribbon from said ribbon spool to saidhub member; a top spool disc; a vertical, threaded, axial passage insaid hub member; an axially positioned threaded stud projectingdownwardly from said top spool disc into threaded engagement with saidpassage; a vertical spindle fixedly mounted on said stud and arisingtherefrom to be manually engaged for rotating said hub member to Wind aribbon from said spool onto said hub; and a tubular Winding key,removably and rotatably fitted downwardly over said ribbon spool postinto engagement with a spool thereon so that manual rotation of said keywill impart rotation to said spool.

2. A device for reinking typewriter ribbons as described in claim 1having a tenon extending downwardly from said winding key intoengagement with said spool and preventing relative rotationtherebetween.

3. A device for reinking typewriter ribbons as described in claim 2having a carrying post affixed in and arising vertically from said baseplate intermediate said ribbon spool post and said hub member aboutwhich said ribbon may be trained to maintain the latter in place on saidspool and said hub.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,175,916 3/16Anderson 242-673 1,391,139 9/21 Ornies l97-17l 2,518,533 8/50 Edwards242-7L8 2,667,257 1/54 Hurtado 2427l.8 X

MERVIN STEIN, Prirrzar Examiner.

STANLEY N. GILREATH, Examiner.

1. A DEVICE FOR REINKING TYPEWRITER RIBBONS COMPRISING: A BASE PLATE; AVERTICAL RIBBON SPOOL POST FIXEDLY MOUNTED IN AN ARISING FROM SAID BASEPLATE AND ADAPTED TO ROTATABLY RECEIVE A CONVENTIONAL RIBBON SPOOL; AVERTICAL HUB MEMBER ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID BASE PLATE IN SPACEDRELATION TO SAID SPOOL POST; A BOTTOM DISC CONCENTRICALLY AFFIXED TO THELOWER EXTREMITY OF SAID HUB MEMBER SO AS TO ROTATE THEREWITH; MEANS FORATTACHING THE EXTREMITY OF A RIBBON FROM SAID RIBBON SPOOL TO SAID HUBMEMBER; A TOP SPOOL DISC; A VERTICAL, THREADED, AXIAL PASSAGE IN SAIDHUB MEMBER; AN AXIALLY POSITIONED THREADED STUD PROJECTING DOWNWARDLYFROM SAID TOP SPOOL DISC INTO THREADED ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID PASSAGE; AVERTICAL SPINDLE FIXEDLY MOUNTED ON SAID STUD AND ARISING THEREFROM TOBE MANUALLY ENGAGED FOR ROTATING SAID HUB MEMBER TO WIND A RIBBON FROMSAID SPOOL ONTO SAID HUB; AND A TUBULAR WINDING KEY, REMOVABLY ANDROTATABLY FITTED DOWNWARDLY OVER SAID RIBBON SPOOL POST INTO ENGAGEMENTWITH A SPOOL THEREON SO THAT MANUAL ROTATION OF SAID KEY WILL IMPARTROTATION TO SAID SPOOL.